About me- Welcome, I’m The Happy Homemaker and I’m glad you found me! I’m thrilled to share recipes that you and your family will cherish. I try to focus on homemade dishes and I draw inspiration from my cherished memories of cooking alongside my nana and great-grandma. Here, you’ll find comforting foods and delightful treats that I hope will bring joy to your table.
As a self taught cook/baker and mom of three, I understand the importance of quick and easy recipes that work every time. Each recipe I share has been tried and tested, ensuring you wont have to deal with the frustration of a failed dish. Join me on this journey as we create delicious meals together using simple, everyday ingredients!
“May you bless others with comforting dishes prepared with the work of your hands”
-The Happy Homemaker
What started everything?
I always had a desire to learn my way around the kitchen. When my nana watched her Toronto Maple Leaf hockey games, I would be in the kitchen preparing snacks for us. Sports wasn’t my thing, and they still are not but creating my own recipes was. It was mostly cheese and crackers for us on those game nights along with a milk shake for each of us. I’d mix it by hand with a spoon. No blender!
When I was a little girl I used to pretend I was a waitress in my nana’s kitchen. I would take my loved ones breakfast orders with my note pad in hand, apron on and I’d get to work! I’d make everyone’s eggs with my “secret ingredient,” which was sugar of course! The sugar truly did make those scrambled eggs taste amazing and I have tried this even in my adult years.
I loved that creating food was an art
The first time I baked my own cake my nana let me decorate it the way I wanted. I was very excited about this. It was a heart cake, my favorite shape with pink icing and sprinkles all over it! Can you guess my favorite color and holiday…pink and valentines day! I adore seeing the valentines day colors all over the place in the month of February.
When I got a bit older I started cooking and baking with my other grandmother. Every other week we would cook a special meal with a dessert for my brother and grandpa. My brother and grandpa would alternate weeks preparing food too, though they always ordered take out and got Dairy Queen ice cream cakes. I was okay with this. It is one of my most cherished memories.
As a young adult I spent most of my time working as a waitress. I always loved being in the food industry and serving others. Food is something that brings people together 3 times a day, plus snacks! Its important to me to eat at the table as a family. There’s something so special about setting a table together and seeing everyone enjoy the food they eat while talking about their day.
Becoming a mom sparked a deeper joy for cooking
When I became a mother that was when I really started learning how to cook. I started with cookbooks I got second hand, I read blogs (like this one) and watched YouTube videos. I started to learn a lot about nutrition as well and started reading food labels which lead me to cooking from scratch for the most part.
Originally, I wanted to write our daughter a cookbook that I could give to her for when she is older. I started sharing photos of the food I was making on my Facebook and people started asking me for recipes all the time. So I thought hey, I’ll just write a cookbook for everyone and dedicate it to our children.
However, the cookbook was taking a while (and still in the making) and I wanted to be able to share my recipes with others while I was writing it. I decided to start my YouTube channel The Happy Homemaker. A couple years ago I started sharing some of my recipes on there but I had quite a lot of them and not all required a YouTube video. I got to thinking, why not start a food blog? I thought it would be the best way to share all my recipes while working on my cookbook. So I’m glad you are here and I hope you find some delicious things to prepare that will bring smiles around your table.
I love the simplicity when it comes to food
All of these recipes I try to keep as simple as possible, I am not a professional, I am self taught and sharing recipes as I go along. I do not like things to be complicated when it comes to cooking. I also don’t like when a recipe requires a massive list of ingredients in order to make it. My goal is to make recipes with basic pantry items, that are simple.
Hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by!
–The Happy Homemaker